Foreign students attacked in Russia

Three foreign students have been beaten in the past few days in Voronezh, a southern Russian city where there have been repeated attacks on foreigners, police said today.

Nine people armed with wooden rods attacked a Yemeni student early today, apparently after arguing with him and a Palestinian student at a nightclub, police in the city 300 miles south of Moscow said.

Three young men were suspected of beating a Nigerian medical student on Saturday night, and three local teens were suspected of beating an Iraqi student on Friday night, the police said in a news release.

Russia has seen a wave of attacks motivated by ethnic prejudice, including killings and violent beating of dark-skinned foreigners and Jews. At least seven foreigners have been killed in apparent hate attacks in the past six years in Voronezh, whose universities traditionally have enrolled thousands of students from African and Asian countries.